Government unveils law to scrap charter schools but some can stay on 'case by case' basis

The Government has unveiled new legislation to abolish charter schools, but not all of them will go.

A teacher in her classroom (file picture).

Source: 1 NEWS

The proposed law will allow some existing charter schools to continue, decided on a "case by case" basis.

That comes after MPs Kelvin Davis and Willie Jackson said they were in favour of the model. Mr Jackson's Manukau Urban Maori Authority runs a charter school in South Auckland and had plans to open another.

The bill also puts into law plans to dump National Standards and introduces a penalty for those who lie about their eligibility for free tertiary education.

He wants "early termination" of charter school contracts by the end of the school year.

"Operators wanting to be involved in education can apply to me to establish another form of school, such as a designated character school. As part of this process, applications would need to meet the relevant requirements," he said.

The move to scrap charter schools was welcomed by education unions NZEI and PPTA.

The bill will have its first reading when Parliament resumes next week.